Wilfred Owen
Early life
1. Wilfred Owen was born in Oswestry, in northern England in
1893 to a middle-class family. Two years later his grandfather, the
financial support of the family, died almost bankrupt. Owen’s
parents had to move into a rented home in the more urban area of
Birkenhead. His mother resented the family’s loss of financial
security and its image.
Owen began to read and write poetry as a child. He followed his
mother’s interest in religion and read the Bible on a daily basis. He
failed to win a scholarship to the University of London in 1911, so
they could not afford to pay for him to go to the University of
London in 1911. Because of this, Owen had to find an occupation
suitable to a young man of his class.
Young Adult
2. In 1911, Owen moved south to the village of Dunsden (near Reading) where he
worked as a lay reader (an assistant to a clergyman) until 1913. He attended classes
part-time at the University of Reading, but despite encouragement from the head of
the English department, failed to win the scholarship that would have financed fulltime study. After falling ill in 1913, Owen decided to work as a private tutor, a
profession which required little formal training and would not compromise his, or his
family’s, social status. He travelled to France, where he worked until 1915. He then
returned home and enlisted in October in the Artist’s Rifles. In March of 1916 he
started an officers’ training course. In June the 2nd Manchester Regiment
commissioned him. Just after Christmas 1916, on December 29, he shipped out to
France. Starting in January 1917, he spent almost four months with his regiment
moving in and out of the front line in World War I.
Effects of War
3. On May 2, 1917, Owen returned home and was diagnosed as suffering from
shellshock and thus unfit to lead. In June, he arrived at Craiglockhart Hospital, just
outside of Edinburgh, Scotland, where a small team of doctors treated those suffering
from the psychological trauma of modern warfare. Siegfried Sassoon arrived in July,
and within a month, Owen had introduced himself to his already published, and wellknown fellow patient. Soon, Owen was showing his work regularly to Sassoon. Owen
published his work in the hospital journal, The Hydra, and met, through Sassoon,
several other writers and poets, including Robert Graves. Likely one of the most
important poetic influences on Wilfred Owen before the war were the Bible and the
English romantic poets, especially John Keats. Sassoon was the strongest of Owen’s
wartime influences because he encouraged Owen to explore the symptoms of shellshock, flashbacks, recurrent and repetitive nightmares, and his inability to escape an
obsessive concern with memories of battle, within his poetry.
Death
4. Owen returned to his regiment in November of 1917, but did not return to France
until the middle of the year. However, he wrote extensively during this period,
revising and rewriting poems he had already begun, and rewriting many new works.
He published several poems in critically acclaimed literary journals during the first half
of 1918. In September, Owen returned to the front line, where he won the Military
Cross for bravery. He was preparing his First collection when, on November 4, 1918,
he was killed in battle. The telegram informing his parents of his death arrived on
November 11, the day of the signing of the Armistice to end the war. His first
collection, introduced by Siegfried Sassoon, appeared two years after his death.
Legacy
5. Owen is widely recognized as one of the greatest voices of the First World War. At the
time of his death, he was virtually unknown. Only four of his poems were published
during his lifetime. Virtually all the poems for which Owen is now remembered were
written in a creative burst between August 1917 and September 1918. His selfappointed task was to speak for the men in his care to show the “Pity of War,” which
he also expressed in his vivid letters home. Owen’s bleak realism, his energy and
indignation, his compassion, and his great technical skill are evident in many wellknown poems, and phrases or lines from his work are frequently quoted. Owen’s
reputation has grown steadily. Modern scholars regard his work as the most
significant poetry to come out of the 1914-1918 war years, and his influence on later
generations of poets and reader is widely acknowledged. Many of his poems were
included in Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem in 1961.
True or false questions
21. In which of the following text structures is this article mostly written?
A. Cause and Effect
B. Compare and Contrast
C. Chronological
D. Problem and Solution
22. What is the author’s main purpose in writing this selection?
A. To persuade the reader the Wilfred Owen was the best war poet of all time.
B. To explain how Wilfred Owen was inspired to write about the war.
C. To entertain the reader with a story about a boy in war.
D. To inform the reader about the events of the life of Wilfred Owen.
23. Which of the following events occurred FIRST in Wilfred Owen’s life?
A. He enlisted in the military.
B. He fought on the front line in World War I.
C. He attended the University of Reading.
D. He was hospitalized for shell-shock.
24. “His mother resented the family’s loss of financial security and the image it projected to
others.”
What is the best meaning of resented in the previous quote?
A. To feel or show strength.
B. To feel bitter or show displeasure.
C. To feel depressed.
D. To blame others.
25. Which sentence LEAST contributes to the central idea of the selection?
A. Wilfred Owen was born in Oswestry, in northern England in 1893 to a middle-class family.
B. Owen is widely recognized as one of the greatest voices of the First World War.
C. Modern scholars regard his work as the most significant poetry to come out of the 19141918 war years, and his influence on later generations of poets and reader is widely
acknowledged.
D. Owen began to read and write poetry as a child.
26. What was ironic about the day that Owen’s parents received
the telegram?
A. It was Owen’s birthday.
B. It was the day the armistice was signed.
C. It was his father’s birthday.
D. It was their anniversary.
Use a dictionary to define the following key terms form the passage.
 Scholarship
 Resented
 Armistice
 Shellshock
 Regiment
 Ironic (Irony)
 Scholars